


Tugging on Heart Strings

by otayuriistheliteralbest



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Just Add Kittens, M/M, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, otayuri - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-19
Updated: 2017-12-19
Packaged: 2019-02-16 20:44:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13061802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/otayuriistheliteralbest/pseuds/otayuriistheliteralbest
Summary: “Ooh, look at this one!” Yuri cried, carefully picking up a sweet calico kitten from the litter at the shelter. They were adopting a new friend for Potya to celebrate moving in together, and Yuri insisted on rescuing one.“There are enough cats and dogs out there in the world. I don’t need to go to a breeder for a kitten when there are so many cats out there who need homes, Beka!”





	Tugging on Heart Strings

**Author's Note:**

> This is a gift for the WONDERFUL @creemsicaal on Tumblr. Her prompt was: "Yura and Beka choosing the runt of the litter kitten" - I hope you like this fic, my dear! <3 Thank you to the lovely Francowitch and Sasha for beta'ing this fic for me. I love you both!

“Ooh, look at this one!” Yuri cried, carefully picking up a sweet calico kitten from the litter at the shelter. They were adopting a new friend for Potya to celebrate moving in together, and Yuri  _ insisted _ on rescuing one.

_ “There are enough cats and dogs out there in the world. I don’t need to go to a breeder for a kitten when there are so many cats out there who need homes, Beka!” _

Otabek had rolled his eyes when Yuri glanced away, but conceded to Yuri’s point. It was a freezing winter day in St. Petersburg, the wind biting through their thick coats and gloves. This probably wasn’t the best day for them to go pick out a new companion, but it was their only free day for the next couple of weeks that matched with the shelter’s hours, and the pair didn’t want to wait any longer. They huddled together on the brief walk from where they had parked to the little animal shelter. The lights were warm and welcoming and the two men walked through the door quickly, wanting to get out of the cold as fast as possible.

The bell above the door jingled as they entered the small animal shelter. A woman with bushy brown hair poked her head around the corner of what Otabek had to assume was the main room of the shelter where all the animals were kept. He could hear muffled meows and barks coming from that area.

“Welcome!” said the woman with a bright smile. “How can I help you two today?” 

“We’re looking to adopt a kitten,” Yuri told the woman. 

She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, nodding at them and glancing back and forth between the pair. “Are you two living together?”

“Yes,” Otabek told her. “I just moved to St. Petersburg, and we want to get a friend for Yuri’s ragdoll cat.”

“Ahhh, housewarming kitten! We have a litter of kittens that are just old enough to be adopted now, if you like. I can show you to them.”

The pair nodded, and the shelter worker motioned for them to follow her, bustling around the corner into the other room.

“My name is Elena. I founded this shelter a few years ago,” she told them as they walked between cages of sad-looking dogs that wrenched Otabek’s heart. He wanted to adopt  _ all _ of them. “This room here is all of our rescued dogs. Most of them were found abandoned on the streets, but others their owners just couldn’t take care of them, for one reason or another. We have a separate room for our cats and kittens, through the door over here.”

Elena gestured to a door to the back of the room and said, “Right this way.”

She opened the door and motioned for the pair to go ahead in and they found themselves surrounded by floor-to-ceiling cages with cats of all ages and colorings. Yuri gripped onto Otabek’s arm, a sad look in his wide eyes as he looked at all the sleeping, scratching, meowing cats.

“Otabek, can we adopt all of them?” Yuri pleaded, only half-joking. Otabek just patted Yuri’s hand.

“Only one, remember? Our apartment wouldn’t have room for us to live in it if we adopted  _ all _ of these cats.”

“You’d be amazed how many people have said that,” Elena said to them with a quirk of her brow and a wry smile, “and how many want to build extensions on their homes so that they can have room for more pets. The kittens and their momma are in the pen over in the corner. Feel free to pick them up, just be careful since their claws are needle sharp. Anyway, I’ll just be in the other room. Ring the bell over on the wall here if you need me!”

She gestured to a little red button on the wall by the door and headed back into the main room, leaving Otabek and Yuri alone with a room full of cats.

Yuri immediately rushed over to the kitten enclosure where he found the litter of kittens tumbling over one another, stepping on each other’s faces and tails in a ball of awkward limbs. He cooed at them, picking up a little dangly toy on a stick that was on the ground and watching them attempt to pounce on it. Otabek smiled at the vision of his boyfriend oohing and aahing over the kittens and walked over to join the blond at the enclosure.

Yuri picked up one of the little calico kittens, exclaiming over how cute it was and turned to show it to Otabek. He ran his fingers along the kitten’s fur, grinning at the small creature. When the kitten started clawing its way up Yuri’s sweater, Otabek helped him unhook it from the fabric - and in some places, Yuri’s skin - and settled the calico kitten back on the ground with its siblings. They spent several minutes picking up and playing with the kittens.

“I don’t know which one to get, Beka! They’re all so cute,” Yuri said. He was pouting down at the kittens. Otabek was contemplating how he wanted nothing more than to kiss that expression off of his face when he heard the tiniest little  _ mew _ coming from the corner of the kitten enclosure. His brow furrowed at the noise that seemed to come from under the bed cushion when he heard it again. Otabek reached over the gate to lift up the corner of the cushion to reveal a calico kitten that was nearly half the size of the rest of the kittens in the litter. It blinked up at Otabek and let out that little  _ mew _ he had heard before. Heart aching, he reached down to pick up the tiny kitten, and it jumped into his hand. He lifted it up to his chest and gave it a little chin scritch; it started to purr and butted its head against his hand to beg for more.

Yuri turned and looked at the sweet little kitten in Otabek’s hands. The expression on his boyfriend’s face was one Yuri knew all too well - Otabek was in love. The blond stepped closer and looked down at the cat. It was clearly the runt of the litter, and Yuri knew from the moment he set his eyes on the kitten that this would be the new addition to their family. 

Set over one eye was a splotch of black fur in the perfect shape of a heart.


End file.
